This invention relates to a crimp-type terminal in which a strain is prevented from developing in the crimp-type terminal when clamping a conductor of a wire to a conductor connection portion of the crimp-type terminal, thereby preventing the strength of the crimp-type terminal from being reduced.
FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a general crimp-type female terminal T, and an electrical connection portion 2 is provided at one end of a base plate 1, and a wire connection portion 3, having a sheath clamping portion 4 and a conductor clamping portion 5, is provided at the other end of the base plate 1.
The electrical connection portion 2 includes side walls 2a extending perpendicularly respectively from opposite side edges of the base plate 1, and upper walls 2b extending respectively from the side walls 2a, and the electrical connection portion 2 has a box-shape having opposite open ends. A tongue (not shown) for resiliently contacting a male terminal is provided within this electrical connection portion 2.
The sheath clamping portion 4 includes holding piece portions 6 extending respectively from the opposite side edges of the base plate 1 in an upstanding manner, and after a sheath 7 of a sheathed wire W is inserted into a space between the two holding piece portions 6, the two holding piece portions 6 are bent inwardly to hold the sheath 7 therebetween.
The conductor clamping portion 5 includes upstanding walls 8 extending respectively from the opposite side edges of the base plate 1 in an upstanding manner, and the upstanding walls 8 are pressed to clamp an exposed conductor 9 at one end of the sheathed wire W.
Interconnecting walls 10, which reinforce the crimp-type terminal T, are formed between the conductor clamping portion 5 and the electrical connection portion 2.
In order to meet the requirement that the crimp-type terminal T should have a small-size design, there has been a tendency to reduce the distance between the conductor clamping portion 5 and the electrical connection portion 2, and when this distance is reduced, the interconnecting walls 10 can not be easily bent or deformed, and stresses, developing when pressing the conductor clamping portion 5, are not absorbed by the short interconnecting walls 10, which results in a problem that at least one of the conductor clamping portion 5 and the electrical connection portion 2 is deformed.
For example, as shown in FIG. 9, in the crimp-type terminal T in which a width B of the pressed conductor clamping portion 5 is smaller than a width A' of the electrical connection portion 2, the rigidity of the electrical connection portion 2 provides forces F.sub.1 which tend to prevent the clamping deformation of the conductor clamping portion 5 through the short interconnecting walls 10.
Therefore, the distal ends of the two upstanding walls 8 are spaced apart from each other at that portion of the pressed conductor clamping portion 5 disposed near to the electrical connection portion 2, thus forming a gap C.sub.1, and as a result there are encountered disadvantages that the clamping force of the conductor clamping portion 5 is inadequate, and that an electrical resistance is increased (see FIG. 9, and FIG. 10, which is a cross-sectional view taken along the line X--X of FIG. 9).
In contrast, in the crimp-type terminal T in which the width B of the pressed conductor clamping portion 5 is larger than the width A' of the electrical connection portion 2, the rigidity of the pressed conductor clamping portion 5 provides forces F.sub.2 which tend to increase the width of the electrical connection portion 2 through the short interconnecting walls 10.
Where the upper walls 2b of the electrical connection portion 2 are defined respectively by upper portions 2c of the bent side walls 2a butted together, a gap C.sub.2 develops between the butted edges of the upper portions 2c (FIG. 11).
In order to eliminate mutually-interfering forces between the electrical connection portion 2 and the conductor clamping portion 5 while keeping the distance between the electrical connection portion 2 and the conductor clamping portion 5 small, there is proposed a method of providing a slit 11 in the interconnecting wall 10 (see FIG. 12).
If the slit 11 is deep enough to be close to the base plate 1, those portions of the interconnecting wall 10, disposed respectively on the opposite sides of the slit 11, can be flexed or bent independently of each other without mutual interference, and therefore the above-mentioned disadvantages are overcome. However, this portion creates a weak point for a bending moment, and there is encountered a problem that the overall strength of the crimp-type terminal T against the bending is extremely reduced.
The present invention seeks to overcome the above problems, and an object of the invention is to provide a crimp-type terminal in which mutually-interfering forces, developing between the conductor clamping portion 5 and the electrical connection portion 2 when pressing the conductor clamping portion 5, are substantially eliminated.